Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer are both reliable and popular internet browsers. But which one is more user friendly and preferable? Of course, the internet user community is divided about this, that’s why I call it “The Internet Browser Wars”.
Your choice of browser can totally change your internet experience. As a person who spends lots of time online, I have observed that little advantageous features in my preferred browser often save me more time and effort. On the other hand, minor browser bugs can annoy the most patient of internet users.
Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer are two of the most reliable internet browsers on the planet. But here are some reasons why I think Firefox has a slight “winning edge” over Explorer:
Firefox Has The “Restore Session” Feature
In the event of a power outage, or if your computer stops responding, you can just exit and restart Firefox (don’t restart your computer). When you relaunch Firefox, you will be given a choice to “Restore Session”. When you choose this option, you will be taken back to any webpage you have been browsing before(including password protected pages).
Easier Access To Browsing History
With Internet Explorer, finding the ‘browsing history’ section is like finding the Holy Grail. I mean it! With Firefox, there’s a highly conspicuous, separate tab fully devoted to your browsing history. In case you get lost while browsing 10,000 pages in an hour, you can just visit the ‘History’ section and toggle between pages that you have visited before. And yes, with Firefox it’s easier to delete your history archives.
The Mozilla Firefox Interface Is Less Cluttered
Have you noticed that Internet Explorer sometimes takes longer to load than Firefox? This is because Explorer has more tabs/features/add-ons, and this is not necessarily good. When users browse online, majority of them don’t care how many features are available on the browser. They just want to check their email, watch some Youtube videos, read the news etc…whatever they wanna do, they wanna do it faster!
Another thing, the Internet Explorer interface takes up too much screen space. Firefox is a breath of fresh air. It is less cluttered with features that you don’t need anyway. There’s more room for the webpage itself. (To be fair to computer geeks, Internet Explorer has more features to spend time with and explore on).
Firefox Automatically Opens .PDF Files — No Need To Download
Online reports and e-books are pretty much popular online. These kinds of files frequently come in .PDF format (a file that can only be opened with Adobe Reader). With Internet Explorer, you cannot read .PDF files online. You need to download them before you can read them. That means, if the PDF file has some sort of viruses or malware attached to it, or if the source website is malicious, then you acquire those dangerous elements into your computer as well.
With Firefox, you can open PDF files online without having to download them. It’s safer, faster, and it saves disk space. Ain’t that convenient?
So, tell me, which browser are you using right now?
August 23rd, 2008 at 7:02 am
It’s not true that you can “read PDFs online” with any application. The file is downloaded all the same to your computer, just to a temporary folder and then opened automagically through the PDF-plugin (or whatever you’ve set up) within the browser.
So, in a way, the route taken by MS Internet Exploder is “safer”, because *you* will be the fool that opens a non-trustworthy file. But I doubt that Adobe Reader (or whatever Wintendo users use) doesn’t provide an inline-plugin for MSIE.
Other than that: Good points.
August 23rd, 2008 at 7:04 am
Yes, I agree.impressive article kabayan.
August 23rd, 2008 at 7:18 am
Good article. Now Flog browser too joins in the war. It has all the benefits of firefox plus some more.
August 23rd, 2008 at 7:24 am
Thanks for the input, Frank. That’s why it’s important to keep your Firewall up at all times. Firefox or Internet Explorer, there’s always a risk of getting invaded by viruses.
But I still maintain my personal preference of Firefox.
August 23rd, 2008 at 8:33 am
Awesome points and well written. Thanks, Verniel for sharing. I lost my Firefox when my computer crashed so am currently on Internet Explorer. I have 1/3 of a page dedicated to my tool bar, just as you stated. lol. I did like the way Firefox always asked if I’d like to restore my last session.
Take care.
August 23rd, 2008 at 9:14 am
Good point Verniel, I have switched to firefox and have no regrets
August 23rd, 2008 at 9:18 am
Nice job. I prefer to use firefox because someone had told me it was safer to use.
August 23rd, 2008 at 9:28 am
Nice article.I agree, firefox is much better in my opinion anyway.
August 23rd, 2008 at 9:36 am
firefox vs explorer:great comparison,tnx
August 23rd, 2008 at 10:09 am
Very good article with lots of information. Well done my friend.
August 23rd, 2008 at 11:08 am
Great information. I’ve got both Firefox and Explorer on my computer and bounce between them for different uses. Didn’t really think about the variations until I read this article.
August 23rd, 2008 at 12:34 pm
awesome, great info. Keep it coming dude! And i agree, Firefox is MUCH MUCH better and safer than Internet Explorer.
August 23rd, 2008 at 12:59 pm
As far as security goes, Firefox is the safest. I had previously consulted with an engineer a month ago about Firefox and he advised me to start using it.
The only issues with faster connections is that it does create a more unstable environment. Either way, Firefox is giving Bill Gates a run for his money, I just know that he hates that!
August 23rd, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Many agree with you in regards to Firefox. I have used both and have had less trouble with Firefox myself. Well, written and very informative article.
August 23rd, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Anyway Mozilla,contains nices themes,and don´t forget the most important:SU
August 23rd, 2008 at 2:42 pm
good stuff to know!
August 23rd, 2008 at 10:41 pm
interesting read. thanks!
August 23rd, 2008 at 11:17 pm
I like Firefox. It runs smoother, faster, crashes less. This is just my experience.
August 24th, 2008 at 5:58 am
Great article. I like using firefox over IE also for the same reasons!
August 24th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Im surprised you did not even mention Flock browser as it is the best this year hands down. it beats easily Firefox.
Flock is a web browser that specializes in Web 2.0 applications and addons and excellant in providing social networking and other features built into its interface. The browser is built on Mozilla’s Firefox plattform thus you can use all of firefox’s addons. On June 16th 2008 Flock 2 based on Mozilla’s Firefox 3 went into open beta.
Flock integrates social networking and media services including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, Blogger, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, etc. When logging into any of the supported social services, Flock automatically activates these services within its features:
Flock can indicate when friends have updated their profile, uploaded photos or other items.
Flock has internal features that allow sharing of text, links, photos and videos.
Flock has its own “media bar” allowing preview of online videos and photos, and subscription to photo and video feeds.
Flock’s Feed Reader organizes Atom and RSS feeds.
Flock’s Blog Editor allows direct posting into a designated blog, along with being a blog reader.
Flock’s web mail component allows users to check web-based mail without going to the site, compose new messages, and drag and drop pictures and videos from the mediabar or webclipboard into a new email message.
Flock also allows for third-party add-ons, including a number of Firefox extensions.
Ratings such as Download.com which top rated flock 5 out of 5
Ranked #6 on PC World’s list of the 100 best products of 2008.
2008 Webby Award Winner SOCIAL NETWORKING catagory
http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?season=CURRENT_SEASON#webby_entry_social
Flock Named As One of PC World’s “100 Best Products of 2008″”. on 2008-06-17.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/146161-12/the_100_best_products_of_2008.html
http://www.flock.com
August 24th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
MAXTHON leaves them all begging and wishing they could keep up. There is no other browser on the market that is as customizable; as user-friendly; has more skins; and has more plug-ins. The whole hoopla over FF being better than anything else is really going over the top.
August 24th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Great article, I use a mac so I have a choice between
Firefox, safari, and explorer and I always use Firefox,
So I can say I agree with you. Anyways feel free to look
at my articles and tell me what you think.
-=Koyin=-
August 24th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Have you even tried IE7 or the IE8 Beta? IE’s History is easy to open in IE7 you just hit a little button and it brings up a three tab interface menu that has Favorites, Feeds, & History in that order. It stays on the one you last used. Not to mention the interface has been scaled back big time. It doesn’t take up a lot of screen space anymore
IE does have session restore built into IE8 and previous versions can use the IE7 Pro add-on to get the feature.
As for .pdf files, how IE handles these all depends on how you have your .pdf viewer set up. I use Foxit and it opens .pdf files in a tab right in IE.
August 24th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
I have mozzila and it is an amazing browser, maybe the best one, great article.
August 24th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
I used Firefox untill my computer played out and explorer was on my new one so I left it. I didn’t like explorer at first but now that I am used to it I can’t tell the difference in the two.
August 24th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
nice article and informative one
August 28th, 2008 at 8:49 am
I heart firefox